Saints of the Latter and Latter Days

There are worse publications to be beaten by than The Atlantic. But I do feel disappointed that McKay Coppins published first something that's been on my mind for some time: the Americanness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ("LDS").

McKay's article is worth reading not only because it observes (accurately, in my opinion) an intersection between LDS faith and American culture but also because he writes from an insider's perspective. He is an active member of the LDS church and writes with both sympathy and honesty. Give it a read.

Since I had the blessing of several conversations with a pair of LDS elders many years ago I have had great respect for the LDS faith. It also struck me how the combination of exceptionalism (Joseph Smith discovering the lost seed of true Christianity) and merit-based rewards (one's divine reign in the afterlife) lined up with the character of the European-American narrative: the United States as the defining lamp of democracy in the world and the belief that anyone can achieve greatness through hard work. I mean to make this observation as just that: an observation, rather than a judgment. My perspective as a Presbyterian American leads me to disagree with the LDS doctrine about the nature of God (I am solidly trinitarian) but also to admire (among other things) the discipline with which the LDS takes Jesus' directive to tell the whole world the good news.

I wrestle weekly with the reality that I carry the faith of a community founded 2,000 years ago in an ancient near-eastern culture under the thumb of the Roman empire, which context had vastly different understandings of the cosmos and the nature of humanity than I have. I try, weekly, to listen for how God speaks a consistent word of love and justice to that age, to my age, and to all ages in between. It seems strange--but very American!--that a community of faith would be called (allowed?) to hit the "reset" button in 1820 and start afresh, as if the intervening 1,797 years were a just a botched trial run of premodern western society.

I suspect that for many nations on the globe the United States seems strange for all the usual reasons but especially because it insists that all the other nations look up to it. Even if the United States, at 244 years of age, has landed upon the best way of being a nation, how could it expect its elders to follow the U.S. so quickly when they have up to 2,000 years more experience? I see a similar distinction between the LDS church and the denominations of faith that tie back to the first century AD. But since they all profess the name of Jesus Christ--our common Lord and Teacher--I don't think there's a better response than to listen, watch, and perhaps share some of the journey with them.

I always tend to think that the Truth--the concept and the being--stands somewhere in the middle. Just as I wonder where this grand project of democracy will lead, I wonder where this young branch of faith, the LDS church, will go. And in that McKay Coppins and I have something significant in common.

~ emrys

photo: mine, taken in St. George, UT, 14 Nov 2020 (waiting in line for a covid test and thus having some spare time to meditate on the LDS church represented by the pictured structure)